Just four days ago we celebrated the feast of the Immaculate Conception. On that day, Mel Gibson released his epic movie, Apocalypto. Without giving away too much of the plot, I believe we can hope that many eyes are opened by this movie's portrayal of the evil of human sacrifices practiced by the Aztecs and other Indian cultures in what would become Mexico. The movie provides the historical backdrop of today's Marian celebration: the Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the 475th anniversary of Mary's appearance to St. Juan Diego.

One of the last scenes in the film is the sight of the ships of Hernando Cortez of Spain  black crosses on their sails  landing on the beaches. What most viewers of Apocalypto probably do not know is that Cortez lands on Good Friday, April 22, 1519. This begins a remarkable story that culminates with Our Blessed Mother's appearance to St. Juan Diego on December 12, 1531.

It is my hope and prayer that Gibson's film will serve as a catalyst to reveal why Cortez needed to stop the practice of human sacrifice and bring knowledge of the True God to the indigenous people of Mexico. It may also serve as a wake-up call to our culture in which Satan has convinced many of our people that slaughtering their most innocent citizens in their mother's wombs is a basic human right.

No will ever know exactly how many were sacrificed, but the law of Aztecs required a thousand to their god Huitlopchtli, the god of death, sun and war in every temple every year. Historians tell us there were 371 temples when Cortez arrived. There were other ritual sacrifices as well to other gods. One Mexican historian estimated that one out of five children was sacrificed. Sometimes entire tribes were exterminated by sacrifice. Month after month, year after year, in temple after temple, sacrificial victims came down the long roads leading to the pyramids, climbed the steep steps to the top of the platforms, were bent backwards over convex slabs of stones. An immense knife with a blade of midnight black volcanic glass rose and fell, gutting the victim open. His or her heart was torn out while still beating and held up for all to see, while the ravaged body was kicked over the edge of the temple where it bounced down the steps a hundred feet below. This scene is graphically portrayed in Apocalypto. Satan is more clever today, taking the sacrifice inside "medical facilities" and disposing of the carnage behind closed doors. But since 1973, 43 million babies in this country have been sacrificed through abortion.

Outside of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I can think of no more miraculous story than that of Our Lady of Guadalupe. If ever there was a story to renew a weary faith or convert a lost soul, the story of St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe is just such a one. The miraculous image of Our Blessed Mother appeared on the tilma (cloak) of a poor Mexican peasant named Juan Diego in the year 1531. By all rights, the coarsely-woven tilma made from cactus fibers should have disintegrated after twenty years. Not only is the image itself beyond all scientific explanations, but the fact that the tilma is still intact after nearly 475 years and hangs today in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, is itself a miracle.

It is through this vision and image that nine million Aztecs turned to Christianity by 1540 and tens of millions more within twenty years. An incredible list of miracles, cures and interventions are attributed to her. Yearly, an estimated 20 million visit her Basilica, making her Mexico City home the most popular Marian shrine in the world, and the most visited Catholic Church in the world next to the Vatican. On this very day at the Basilica in Mexico City and throughout Mexico the processions and rosaries said will be in the tens of millions. In all, twenty-five popes have officially honored Our Lady of Guadalupe. His Holiness the late John Paul II visited her sanctuary four times: on his first apostolic trip outside Rome as pope in 1979, and again in 1990, 1999 and 2002.

For years, my wife Patti and I dreamed of venturing to Mexico to see the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. So for our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary last June, we flew to Mexico City along with eight of our children. (Our sons from Kenya have travel restrictions and were unable to make the trip.) Our visit to the shrine would come at the end of our vacation.

First, we took a three-hour breathtaking (and hair-raising) drive to spend a week in the small colonial town of Taxco with cobblestone streets and seven beautiful Catholic churches. Interestingly our villa was located on Guadalupe Street and the church overlooking us was the Church of Guadalupe. On the morning of June 19th, we walked down cobblestone streets to Vera Cruz Church (the Church of the True Cross) where Fr. Guadalupe blessed our marriage and family during a Mass said in Spanish. We learned that Father Guadalupe was named thus by his mother because he was born on December 12th, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

In Taxco the consecration of the Eucharist is hailed not only with bells at the altar but with the sound of fireworks discharged outside the Church so people throughout the city will know Christ has arrived. Through our travels to other tourist sites and many conversations with locals, it was clear that Mexico truly has a Catholic heart that reaches far beyond the insides of churches. Jesus and their beloved Lady of Guadalupe are represented and talked about everywhere.

After a week of climbing steep cobblestone streets, carefully navigating restaurants and open-air markets for meals, and bargaining with street vendors for souvenirs, we returned to Mexico City. The day had finally arrived for our pre-arranged guide and tour. We would visit several sites in Mexico City, including Tlaltelolco, where, in 1521 Hernando Cortez defeated the Aztecs in the final battle that put an end to the Aztecs' pagan rituals and human sacrificing; the Pyramid of the Sun and Moon at Teotihuacan, where the Mayan civilization flourished in 150-450AD; and finally the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Of all the appearances of the Mother of God since the resurrection of her Son, only this one has been accompanied by the sacred image of Our Lady. For those who are unfamiliar with the story of the sacred image, I will recount some of the details.

Juan Diego, a Nahuatl Indian, was a widowed convert to Roman Catholicism on his way to Mass on December 9, 1531, the solemnity of Mary's Immaculate Conception. For several years Juan Diego, then in his mid-fifties, got up before dawn and walked fifteen miles, one way, to attend daily Mass. As he passed by Tepeyac Hill, the sky became bright and he heard singing on top of the hill, like the songs of various birds.

At the end of the song, as Juan Diego looked toward the hill, he heard a woman call out to him. There, he saw a young lady whose clothes shone with the radiance of the sun. He prostrated himself in front of her. When she asked Juan where he was going, he replied that he was going to church to hear the sermons of the friars. The woman identified herself as "the eternally consummate virgin Saint Mary, mother of the very true deity, God, the giver of life, the creator of people, the ever present, the Lord of heaven and earth." She then asked Juan Diego to relate to the bishop her wish for a temple to be built on that very spot, where she would attend to the "weeping and sorrows of you and all the people of this land, and of the various peoples who love me...."

Juan Diego rushed the final miles on foot and waited for hour to see Bishop Zumarraga. The friars were reluctant. After all, Juan Diego was a poor Indian with sandals, a walking stick and no appointment to see the bishop. After waiting patiently, Juan Diego was finally ushered in. When he related his story to Bishop Zumarraga, Juan Diego, through a translator, was told that he needed a sign to prove that this account was true. A series of other events happen to Juan Diego over the next three days that would take too long here to explain, but then on December 12, 1531, Mary provided a sign that convinced the bishop that Juan Diego spoke the truth.

When Mary appeared to Juan Diego that day, she directed him to pick Castilian roses from the top of Tepeyac hill, and to gather them in his tilma to present to the bishop as proof of her miraculous presence. (Castilian roses were not common in Mexico City in 1531, and certainly not in the dead of winter.) Juan Diego did as he was asked and the Blessed Mother even helped him lay the flowers in his tilma.

When Juan Diego returned to the bishop and opened his cloak to show the roses, the bishop and all those present were amazed and fell prostrate. The image of Our Blessed Mother was emblazoned on the tilma.

The image was far more than a mere picture of a beautiful lady. Her dress and manner told a story that all the Aztec Indians could understand. Below are just a few of the highlights of the symbolism.

Her hands are folded in supplication; her posture indicating that she is interceding for us at the throne of the God. The luminous light surrounding the Lady is reminiscent of the "woman clothed with the sun" of Revelation 12:1. The rays of the sun would also be recognized by the native people as a symbol of their highest god, Huitzilopochtli. Thus, the lady comes forth hiding but not extinguishing the power of the sun. She is now going to announce the God who is greater than their sun god.

The Lady is standing upon the moon. Again, the symbolism is that of the woman of Revelation 12:1 who has the "moon under her feet." The moon for the Aztecs was the god of the night. By standing on the moon, she shows that she is more powerful than the god of darkness.

The eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe are looking down with humility and compassion. This was a sign to the native people that she was not a god since in their iconography the gods stare straight ahead with their eyes wide open.

The angel supporting the Lady testifies to her royalty. To the Aztecs only kings, queens and other dignitaries would be carried on the shoulders of someone. The mantle of the Lady is blue-green or turquoise. To the native people, this was the color of the gods and of royalty. The stars on the Lady's mantle show that she comes from heaven.

The gold-encircled cross brooch under the neck of the Lady's robe is a symbol of sanctity. The girdle or bow around her waist is a sign of her virginity, but it also has several other meanings. The bow appears as a four-petaled flower. To the native Indians this was the nahui ollin, the flower of the sun, a symbol of plenitude. For them, this was the symbol of creation and new life. The high position of the bow and the slight swelling of the abdomen show that the Lady is with child.

So by her dress, the image shows that Mary is of royalty from heaven and was both a virgin and "with child." Thus, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Americas, has become a powerful symbol for the pro-life movement.

In modern times, intensive study has been made of this image. Richard Kuhn, Nobel Prize-winner and chemist, examined two fibers from the image and subjected them to a multitude of tests. He announced there was no paint of any kind on the fibers. Whatever materials were used to produce the color are unknown to science, being neither animal, vegetable or mineral dye. Infrared photography confirmed that the image was not drawn or painted; there are no strokes.

In 1955, it was discovered under a high-powered magnifying glass that in Mary's eyes, the reflection of a bearded man in the pupil of the right eye could be seen, similar to what is seen in the eyes of photographed subjects. Further investigation has revealed the reflections of people in the eyes that appear to be standing near a bearded man with one person looking over his shoulder. These images were compared to a sketch of the scene of Juan Diego presenting the tilma to the bishop which was drawn in 1533. The people in the sketch were standing in the exact position as the images in Our Lady's eyes.

On the day our family arrived at the basilica, tens of thousands of people were coming to a special Mass that day for the spiritual healing of Mexico, but we managed to get within several feet of the image. A "moving sidewalk" takes visitors past the miraculous tilma so as to keep traffic moving and allow a reasonably close view.

I wanted to bring back home a life-size reproduction of the nearly 6-foot-tall image, so I asked our tour guide where I might find one amidst the myriad of souvenir shops that lined the grounds of the Basilica. He told me of one store that might have something. We were ushered to a shop under the Shrine that carried more objects than you could imagine. I asked the clerk if she had anything that closely resembled the actual tilma in size. She smiled and asked me to wait for a moment.

A few minutes later she returned and rolled out onto a table a canvas reproduction of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was blessed by Pope John Paul II on his next-to-last visit and was also blessed by the Archbishop of Mexico. She pointed to both of their insignia that were stamped in the corners of the image. The clerk said originally there were a hundred of these that John Paul II blessed and this was last one. It is now framed and hangs in our living room. (You can't miss it.)

After I returned to Bismarck, I felt that the picture was far too precious to serve as mere décor in our home. I decided that I would offer to give talks to school and church groups, so others can learn of this incredible story and enjoy the beautiful image. I combine PowerPoint presentation with the "tilma" and a talk. Now I have Mel Gibson's movie for an even more graphic representation of why Our Lady's intercession was needed to root out the evil that flourished in the western hemisphere for centuries.

Jesus sent his Mother once to triumph over the serpent-god that the Aztecs, Mayans and other Indians were worshipping, and to put an end to the brutal human sacrifice that was being practiced. We can surely trust that Our Lady will intervene for us today and overwhelm the darkness with the brightness of her presence once again. On this memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe, let us pray for her intervention to bring an end to the deadly errors in our society. Hail Mary, full of grace!

[Anyone interested in having Mark Armstrong give his presentation on Our Lady of Guadalupe can reach him at 701-224-9633.]

Mark Armstrong is the co-author of Amazing Grace for Fathers along with his wife, Patti Armstrong, Jeff Cavins and Matt Pinto. The couple's website is at www.raisingcatholickids.com.

**It is my hope and prayer that Gibson's film will serve as a catalyst to reveal why Cortez needed to stop the practice of human sacrifice and bring knowledge of the True God to the indigenous people of Mexico. It may also serve as a wake-up call to our culture in which Satan has convinced many of our people that slaughtering their most innocent citizens in their mother's wombs is a basic human right.**

**The eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe are looking down with humility and compassion. This was a sign to the native people that she was not a god since in their iconography the gods stare straight ahead with their eyes wide open.**

Thanks for posting this, I was wondering about the image itself, after reading the thread about the scientific work done on it. I wasn't clear if the image with all the artwork is what miraculously appeared.

It seems it was, which is just amazing! Much more than a blurry image on a piece of toast or something.

I know that many will find this shocking (NOT !!), but the San Francisco Chronicle has an exact opposite view of this movie. It says in this 12/11/06 article (via an "expert" they interviewed) that Gibson was 100% wrong in his depiction of the ancient Maya culture (even stating that there is no evidence that the sheer number of human sacrifices portrayed by Gibson ever took place). The author also makes sure he gets in some "subtle" digs against Gibson and Christianity, as well a snide comment about "The Passion of the Christ". Either way, get out your barf bags, and read what "the other side" is saying:

I am on the committee for the SOlemn Mass of Our Lady of Guadalupe which will be held this evening at our large Midwestern church. We will have flags of the Americas, children dressed in native costumes, a procession, and a dinner. I have been over helping decorate the church.

Most of the people on the committee are not Hispanic, but Anglo. A lot of people don't know that she is the patroness of ALL of the Americas.

My daughter's second grade class is putting on a pagent tonight at church for Our Lady of Guadalupe. The kids are all excited about it. And there are very few hispanics in their school, I would say 98% anglo.

There is so much amazing (and alarming) science on the Shroud and the Oviedo Cloth, I should very much like to be directed to comparable science on the cloak containing the image of Our Lady of Guadelupe. It looks to be impressive and persuasive. Anyone know of a link to the good science on it?

The Holy Land has been a real battleground between the Islamic peoples and Christianity over the centuries. Evidence of this are the numerous churches and basilicas that have been built by the Church, destroyed by, the Moslems, rebuilt by Catholic Crusaders, leveled again by the followers of Islam, and so on over the course of history. However, there is one remarkable exception: the Basilica of Saint Anne in Jerusalem.

The Crusaders built this church and named it in honor of the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Crypt of St. Anne's Basilica, a statue of the Infant Mary is venerated on what is believed to be the exact spot where Our Lady was born. Their great reverence for Our Lady precluded the Moslems from destroying her birthplace. The foundation for Heaven's Peace Plan at Fatima, Portugal, can be found in the Land of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Spain

As the Moslems swept through Spain in the 8th century, a great religious treasure was buried for safe-keeping in the earth, high in the Estremadura Mountains. It was a much venerated statue of Our Lady holding the Divine Child Jesus that was a gift of Pope Gregory the Great to Bishop Leander of Seville. After the overthrow of Moorish occupation, the image was uncovered in the year 1326, subsequent to a vision of Our Lady to a humble shepherd by the name of Gil. Our Lady's very special statue was enshrined in a nearby Franciscan Monastery next to the "Wolf River."

The Moslems, during their Spanish occupation, had actually named the river. The Islamic term for Wolf River is "Guadalupe" (Guada = River; Lupe = Wolf). Hence, the famous Catholic image in Spain has been known, since the 14th century, by the Islamic name of "Our Lady of Guadalupe."

Mexico

In the fullness of time, we can be sure that Almighty God knew that the Islamic religion would pose a serious threat to Christianity. God also knew that the Spanish missionaries would face grave resistance in the "new world" from the mighty Aztec Indians. The Aztecs worshipped an evil stone "serpent god" that demanded human sacrifice. It was extremely difficult to win souls for Christ from these bloodthirsty savages. However, with God all things are possible. Our Lady appeared to a humble Aztec Indian convert by the name of Juan Diego in 1531. When asked her name by Juan Diego, at the request of the local bishop, Our Lady's response, in the Aztec language, included the words "te coatlaxopeuh" (pronounced: "te quatlasupe") and meant "one who crushes the head of the stone serpent."

To Juan Diego and his fellow Aztecs, this revelation had great meaning, coupled with the miraculous image of Our Lady standing on top of a "crescent," the symbol of this evil serpent god. A tidal wave of conversions to Catholicism ensued. However, Bishop Zumarraga, who was from Spain, made what was no doubt a "heavenly mistake" that one day may lead to the mass conversion of Moslems. To the Bishop's Spanish ears, Our Lady's Aztec name of "Te Quatlasupe" sounded just like the name of the revered Madonna from Spain with the Islamic name, "Guadalupe." Hence, the bishop named the Mexican Madonna "Our Lady of Guadalupe." It is interesting that the "crescent" is also the symbol for Islam and that America's Shrine to Our Lady has an Islamic name.

Battle of Lepanto

On October 7, 1571, a great victory over the mighty Turkish fleet was won by Catholic naval forces primarily from Spain, Venice, and Genoa under the command of Don Juan of Austria. It was the last battle at sea between "oared" ships, which featured the most powerful navy in the world, a Moslem force with between 12,000 to 15,000 Christian slaves as rowers. The patchwork team of Catholic ships was powered by the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Knowing that the Christian forces were at a distinct material disadvantage, the holy pontiff, St. Pope Pius V called for all of Europe to pray the Rosary for victory. We know today that the victory was decisive, prevented the Islamic invasion of Europe, and evidenced the Hand of God working through Our Lady. At the hour of victory, St. Pope Pius V, who was hundreds of miles away at the Vatican, is said to have gotten up from a meeting, went over to a window, and exclaimed with supernatural radiance: "The Christian fleet is victorious!" and shed tears of thanksgiving to God.

What you may not know is that one of three admirals commanding the Catholic forces at Lepanto was Andrea Doria. He carried a small copy of Mexico's Our Lady of Guadalupe into battle. This image is now enshrined in the Church of San Stefano in Aveto, Italy. Not many know that at the Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Spain, one can view a huge warship lantern that was captured from the Moslems in the Battle of Lepanto. In Rome, look up to the ceiling of S. Maria in Aracoeli and behold decorations in gold taken from the Turkish galleys. In the Doges' Palace in Venice, Italy, one can witness a giant Islamic flag that is now a trophy from a vanquished Turkish ship from the Victory. At Saint Mary Major Basilica in Rome, close to the tomb of the great St. Pope Pius V, one was once able to view yet another Islamic flag from the Battle, until 1965, when it was returned to Istanbul in an intended friendly token of concord.

"It is my hope and prayer that Gibson's film will serve as a catalyst to reveal why Cortez needed to stop the practice of human sacrifice and bring knowledge of the True God to the indigenous people of Mexico. It may also serve as a wake-up call to our culture in which Satan has convinced many of our people that slaughtering their most innocent citizens in their mother's wombs is a basic human right."

I find it surprising that anyone who realizes the U.S. has been attacked, and is also under invasion by a Pro-life people, do not see the correlation. I call it the Manasseh Judgment. God told the Israelites they were being given the promised land because the people who originally lived there sacrificed their children, and if they did the same thing, they, too, would lose their land. Which of course, they did, and were dispersed by the people from Babylon, Iraq. God blesses pro-lifers, not nations that practice child sacrifice.

14
posted on 12/12/2006 1:15:41 PM PST
by huldah1776
(Worthy is the Lamb.)

BTW, I went to Mass this AM at the nearby Benedictine Abbey/ Seminary (15min from home). A priest friend told me in advance that they celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe yesterday, on the 11th. He was almost apologizing but had to go and couldn't explain.

Y'all have any ideas?

16
posted on 12/12/2006 2:04:46 PM PST
by cpforlife.org
(A Catholic Respect Life Curriculum is available at KnightsForLife.org)

the San Francisco Chronicle has an exact opposite view of this movie. It says in this 12/11/06 article (via an "expert" they interviewed) that Gibson was 100% wrong in his depiction of the ancient Maya culture

And in Iran they are holding a conference saying that the Holocaust never happened!

What I find amazing is that the large numbers of Mexican converts almost equaled the number who turned away in the Reformation in Europe.

Our priest related several miracles connected with the tilma. First, the material will disintegrate in a period of years -- don't know the exact reason, but it might be connected with some kind of plant fiber -- I really don't know. It's still there today!

They had lots of candles burning under it for a long time -- Our santuary light is below cloth that covers our speakers and the cloth has to be replaced every so often because of the soot stain. The tilma has not been damaged by soot.

The Communists, in an effort to wipe out the last bastion of Catholicity in Mexico, set off a bomb below the case that holds the tilma. A metal cross was bent backwards over 30 degrees and all the windows on the church were blown out, but the glass protecting the tilma image was not broken.

The building has a huge fire, and everything inside was damaged, but the case with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe survived the fire. Whether that fire is connected with the bombing, I don't know. This last one was one that I had heard about. Our priest mentioned the others today.

Bishop Zumarraga prayed to Our Lady for help in what was an impossible situation. How could he convert a people who were too terrified of their gods to turn away from them? How could he ever unite under the banner of Christ the Spanish and the Aztecs, when there was so much reason for each to be suspicious of the other? As the Bishop prayed, Our Lady quietly appeared on an unimportant hill to a poor Aztec. At the very moment Zummarraga was longing for help, the answer was already beginning to happen. The Jewish people longed for their kingdom to be restored and to last for ever, as had been promised to the great King David. As the Jewish people prayed for a messiah to deliver them, an angel was appearing to a young girl in the little known northern town of Nazareth. As they prayed for deliverance, the answer was already beginning to happen. As we pray that Gods kingdom come through Jesus Christ, do we pray with faith that the answer to our prayers is already beginning to happen? Do we recognize the seemingly insignificant ways that God is already breaking into our lives? Are we aware that God has chosen us as those seemingly insignificant instruments through which he will manifest the coming of his Kingdom?

Reflection based on Luke 1:26-38

Father Richard Veras

Loving Father, let me be aware of all the ways that you offer yourself to me in even the least significant circumstances of my life.

"I am on the committee for the SOlemn Mass of Our Lady of Guadalupe which will be held this evening at our large Midwestern church. We will have flags of the Americas, children dressed in native costumes, a procession, and a dinner. I have been over helping decorate the church. Most of the people on the committee are not Hispanic, but Anglo. A lot of people don't know that she is the patroness of ALL of the Americas."

I am proud to have "met" you.

For a few years my husband got our priest to have a Holy Eucharist adoration from 9 p.m. on Dec. 8 to 1 a.m. on Dec. 9 for preborn babies.

38
posted on 12/12/2006 7:37:03 PM PST
by Sun
(*MERRY CHRISTMAS!* And during this beautiful season, let's all pray for good to win over evil soon!)

I saw the film "Apocalypto" over the weekend and I would highly recommend it for viewing. I even saw some parents taking their older children to see this "R"-rated film. Let me say that the violence is not excessive for the subject matter and is all part of the plot. In fact, Mel pulled his punches on several occasions (I don't want to spoil anyone by giving details). The violence is more like something you'd see in "Conan the Barbarian" or the "Xena" TV show. There's human sacrifice, but it's part of the plot. This is NOT "Rambo in the jungle", it carries deeper connotations.

It was pretty clear to me that this film is a metaphor for a decayed and dying USA which is rotting from within because it kills its children. Mel opens the film with the printed statement, No civilization is ever conquered from without unless it first decays from within" (something to that effect). This film also could be seen as a metaphor for a nation under attack by terroristic outside forces, and the only way to save ourselves is to be strong, as strong as we can be, because only we ourselves can protect our own family.

The characters are very appealing. Respect is shown to aged men and women. Even the villains, vile as they are, are portrayed with a degree of humanity.

Mel has included "religious" themed comments. When the captive Indians are marched away from their village, the youngest children are left behind as unneeded, left to fend for themselves. A woman captive looks back and prays aloud, apparently to their goddess, "Blessed Mother Ochotl, look after them and protect them."

In another scene, the bad guys begin to figure out that a lot of bad luck is coming their way because they've been hurting the hero, a young man named "Jaquar", and one prays to their god, "Father, forgive us for our trespasses against your holy son Jaguar".

This film is a story about a man trying to protect his family. It's very watchable. I had no problem at all following the subtitles.

My only criticism was an unnecessary use of the "f" word in the subtitles, in a phrase "he's f---ed" meaning "his goose is cooked". It got a cheap laugh and I guess Mel did it for his male audience.

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